Bloodlines 2 - Intensely Playable First Impression

In August last year, couple of months before it launched in the midst of its "2 of the 6 clans will be Day 1 DLC" PR disaster I called Bloodlines 2 [the most unbuyable game I've ever seen](https://criminallyvulgar.dev/bloodlines-2-is-the-most-unbuyable-game-ive-ever-seen/. While I stand by that take I've had time to relax, forget the furore, and observe a 50% discount. My partner is in the middle of an online TTRPG VtM campaign so my interest is at a local maximum and I've just finished an extremely intensive fortnight of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, aching for a new game to fill the void, so at £25 I thought why the fuck not. I've not played a lot yet, about 4 hours, and I've just reached the "now the open world is open" part of the game, and so far I have to say it's kinda got the juice. I said in my savage takedown that my expectations were for a compelling narrative with fairly low interactivity - so far this has been pretty solid. A very railroad-y first act, a bevy of fun…